Sintered neodymium-iron-boron (i.e., Nd—Fe—B or Nd2Fe14B) magnets are commonly used for various magnetic circuits including motors, generators, medical instruments, hard disk drives, and measuring devices because of their high magnetic performance. In order to increase the high temperature coercivity of sintered Nd2Fe14B, dysprosium (Dy) or another coercivity-enhancing element can be substituted for Nd in the magnets. This enhancement occurs because (Nd1-xDyx)2Fe14B has a higher magnetic anisotropy than that of Nd2Fe14B.
Nevertheless, there are substantial disadvantages in the current methodology employed for producing Dy-enhanced Nd2Fe14B magnets. One disadvantage is the high cost of heavy rare earth (HRE) elements, such as Dy. Global production of Dy is about 1700 Mt (metric tons) annually. Moreover, in the conventional art, Dy may comprise as much as 5 weight percent of these magnets. It is typically added in bulk in order to improve high temperature coercivity, though at a significant penalty to the magnetization. Another disadvantage is the performance loss (e.g., significant loss in coercivity) as a result of the annealing processes of the art in which the permanent magnet is annealed at elevated temperatures for extended periods (e.g., hours) to ensure diffusion of the Dy throughout the bulk of the magnet.